Beet and Top Green Smoothie with Apple, Orange and Ginger

Fresh smoothies are a terrific way of getting some nutrients on those mornings when you don't really feel like a solid breakfast — the chunkier the better for "tricking" your body into thinking it's eating instead of just getting a drink. Mind you, it's not just a drink when all this goodness is packed into one glass. But I confess that up until now I've never really been a fan of the popular practice of adding vegetables into healthy smoothies … it's inevitably been an unsuccessful exercise in trying to mask tastes that I otherwise really enjoy in salads, cooked dishes or just raw on their own. I've been sticking to fruit for the smoothies, thank you, and giving the vegetables pride of place on the dinner table.

But I've changed my mind now with this astonishingly tasty beet smoothie that I came up with in response to my beautiful friend Jacqueline's challenge to come up with a smoothie incorporating at least one vegetable for this month's No Croutons Required roundup. It turns out that I was just using the wrong vegetables. Fresh raw beets have a slightly sweet taste that's surprisingly cool and refreshing in a smoothie, and adds a lovely pink color too. A great "blood building" vegetable too? Never mind! Combined with a crisp green apple, fresh squeezed orange juice, tangy yogurt and a little fresh ginger for a bit of zest with a frothy mellow almond milk backdrop, this smoothie is so delicious that you won't even be thinking how good it is for you. But do throw in the mild-flavored and vitamin A rich beet tops for even more goodness while you're at it.

One more bit of goodness in this smoothie — as if it needed more — is the addition of oats soaked in good whole fat yogurt overnight at room temperature. A variation of the muesli technique that I often use, the process makes the proteins in the oats digestible and easily absorbable, and really brings out the natural tangy flavor of yogurt besides.

Beet and Top Green Smoothie with Apple, Orange and Ginger

Recipe by Lisa Turner Published on June 18, 2013 A delicious, refreshing and wonderfully nourishing smoothie with the goodness of beets, beet tops, apples, oranges and ginger in a tangy almond milk and yogurt base Print this recipe Ingredients: 1/4 cup rolled or steel-cut oats 2/3 cup plain whole fat yogurt 1 fresh small beet with tops 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped juice from 1 orange (1/4 cup) 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled (1 tablespoon) 1 cup almond milk 1 tablespoon raw honey (optional) 4 ice cubes Instructions: Stir the yogurt into the oats and let soak overnight at room temperature in a covered non-plastic bowl. In the morning, trim the beet greens and peel and chop or grate the beet. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and frothy (use a little less almond milk if you want a really thick smoothie). Serve cold with breakfast or as a snack. Makes 2 servings (3 cups)

More smoothie recipes you will enjoy from Lisa's Kitchen:
Raspberry-Banana Oat and Chia Seed Smoothie
Blueberry and Maple Syrup Oat Smoothie
Pomegranate and Blueberry Oat Smoothie

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